Safety-envelop.



E. J. LEWIS. SAFETY BNVELOP.

APPLICATION FILED JAILBO, 1913..

v1,106,721 Patented Aug. 11. 11.914.

` A Home] THE NORRIS PETERS CO.. PHOTCPLITHQ. WASHINCON. DV C insegni.

rmrrni) srafrns PATENT onriofii.

EDWARD J. LEVVS, OF CHICO, CALIFORNIA.

SAFETY-ENVELOP.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD J. Lewis, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chico, in the county of Butte and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety-Envelops, of which the following' isa specification.

This invention relates to envelops which are so constructed thatafter sealing an attempt by anyone to open the envelop to eX- ainiiie or conliscate the contents may be easily detected.

Many types of safety envelops have been proposed and some put upon the market; but the various devices which have been heretofore suggested have failed to meet the requirements. Any person who exercises care and a little skill may, in a short time open any of these envelops and reseal them iii such a manner as to escape the notice of the majority of people.

An object of this invention is to provide a safety envelop which it will be impossible to open and reseal without showing it so clearly that anyone would readily see that the same had been tampered with.

Another object of this invention is to provide an eiiicient practical safety envelop of which the cost of manufacture will not be materially increased over that of the ordinary envelop.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a safety envelop which will not be unattractive or cumbersome but even more attractive than the ordinary envelop, .in that the safety devices add an attractive type of decoration to the back of the envelop.

In some of the safety envelops heretofore suggested, the safety appliance has been hidden under the ,gum flap of the envelop; while this type may have its advantages, it would be very hard for the ordinary person, whose mind has not been trained in channels of detection to be able to know positively that the envelop had been tampered with, because of the fact that he himself would first have to open the envelop before it could be determined and in doing so it would undoubtedly deface the evidence left by the person who had previously opened the envelop.

lt is an object of this invention to provide a safety envelop in which it can be ascertained by an ordinary look at the exterior of the envelop whether or not the envelop has been previously tampered with or opened.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 30, 1913.

Patented Aug. 11, 1914. serial No. 745,248.

The invention consistsl in cutting small portions out of the gum part of the iap of the envelop and pressing` outwardly a portion of the body part of the envelop which .will engage these openings when the envelop is sealed.

lt is understood that the general way of opening envelops is by inserting a small,

smooth tool, such as the end of a penholder, pencil or the like, at the line of sealing and by rolling the same rapidly, the envelop is easily and neatly opened. Should this method be used on the present invention, the small raised parts of the envelop body would be either torn or crushed back into the envelop and no amount of careful or persistent ell-'ort could cause them to assume their original form and position, thus the fact that the envelop had been opened would be clearly discernible.

By providing the safety appliance in plain View much tampering with the mail might be avoided, for any person seeing the safety envelop would immediately realize that it would be impossible to open the envelop and reseal it without leaving proof 0f his deed and would in most cases pass the letter unmolested.

The invention further consists in such details of construction, novel arrangement and combination of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described shown in the drawings and claimed.

ln describing my invention in detail reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like orcorresponding parts in the several views and in which Figure l, is an elevation view of the envelop showing` the sealing fiap open, Fig. 2, is a view similar to Fig. l, only showing the envelop sea-led, F ig. 3, is a sectional view on the line 3-3, greatly enlarged.

ln construction, the envelop l, is of any ordinary type made of any Suitable material and constructed in any desirable shape, having the end flap 2 folded over and sealed to the bottom flap 3 as at 4. The other end flap 5 is also folded and sealed to the bot tom flap 3 at 6 while the flap 7 is adapted to be folded at 8 and sealed to the end flaps 2 and 5 and to the bottom flap 3 after the letter has been inserted into the envelop l. The upper edges 9, l0, and 11 of the end flaps 2 and 5 and the bottom flap 3 respectively, are provided with small outstanding portions 12. These outstanding portions 12 are formed by pressing a part of the main body portion outwardly as is clearly shovvn in Fig. 3, of the drawings.

Near the outer' edge 14 of the tiap 7 are, a series of perforations 15 and these perforations 15 are adapted to receive the outstanding portions 12 when the envelop is sealed, as is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings. It should be noted that the projections 12 are so formed that they do not extend beyond the outer face of flap and that they are provided with flat outer faces so that the projections Will not be mashed when sealing the letter. Therefore, if a pencil or pen holder' is slipped under the flap 7 to open the letter, the projections 12 Will be mashed, thus indicating that' the letter has been tampered With. If these projections 12 extended through the openings l5 beyond the outer face of the Hap 7, they would be mashed when sealing the letter or When the letter vvas passed throughl a canceling machine, and therefore would be diiiicult to determine Whether the letter had been tampered with sincevthe projections would be mashed through legitimate handling of the letter.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new and novel is An envelop comprising a body portion having a projection struckup therefrom and extending beyond the outer face of the body portion7 and a sealing lap provided With an opening for receiving the projection of said body portion, said projection being of such size that it Will not extend through said openings beyond the outer face of said sealing flap.

EDWARD J. LEWIS.`

Witnesses:

T. W. BAKER, WV. W. WRIGHT.

Copiel of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patenti,

Washington, D. C. i 

